Michael Davis

Alumni / Michael Davis

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"I've taken everything I learned in life and put it into what I've always wanted to do: write and direct movies," says Hollywood auteur Michael Davis.

After graduating from Parsons' Illustration program, Davis moved to Los Angeles and worked as a storyboard artist while making independent movies on the side. His big break came in 2007, when New Line Cinema saw 15 minutes of beautifully choreographed action scenes that Davis had animated by hand, shot by shot, showing how the scenes were to be photographed and edited. New Line snapped up and produced his action thriller Shoot 'Em Up, in which they cast Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, and Monica Bellucci. "The studio people had never seen storyboards like mine before," says Davis, who credits Parsons with developing not just his illustration skills but also an intellectual edge. "The teachers didn't just teach technique; they taught you how to think. That's how I learned to creatively solve problems."